The Sum of Us
by Mind of the Childishly Naive
Summary: One sentence for every word; it almost makes up a whole lifetime, doesn't it? / Juey


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The Sum of Us

-x-

**Laughed**  
"Perpetual frowner" Huey Freeman had actually laughed; and rather than being overjoyed by the decidedly foreign sound uttered by the young man, she pressed a startled hand to his forehead, wondering why on Earth he had come to school with a fever.

**Cried**  
He couldn't be mad at her for crying when he was always the reason behind it.

**Dreamed**  
A realist by nature, he spent very little time day-dreaming, whereas Jazmine had long since perfected the art of it.

**Kissed**  
It was like fire in his veins every time, but he'd die before ever admitting she possessed that kind of hold over him.

**Hugged**  
The fact that he'd never been a hugger didn't seem to dissuade her from flinging her arms around his neck at every opportunity, squeezing him tightly, as if she'd never let him go.

**Killed**  
Like everything else that had ever gone wrong, Huey somehow blamed himself for this, too.

**Screamed**  
He'd never moved faster in his entire life - all because of Jazmine's irrational fear of anything smaller than herself with four times as many legs, and her inability to simply swat it off the shower curtain.

**Bled**  
He couldn't understand why she bothered making such a big fuss over such a small wound.

**Giggled**  
It was always the first sign that a situation was on the verge of becoming very, _very_ exasperating...

**Slapped**  
In one of those rare occasions when she really lost her temper, she slapped him - then she cried, her anger vanishing as quickly as it had manifested, and apologized and kissed his face over and over again, even though he told her pointedly that the blow had only surprised him more than it had actually hurt.

**Attacked**  
She knew that the verbal attacks directed toward her naive and trusting nature, and, occasionally, her intelligence, were just his way of saying that he was concerned, and that he cared.

**Battled**  
Unlike the persistent unintelligents that made up the majority of his gender and/or age-group, Huey knew when to consent that he had lost an argument on the simple basis that woman, in general, were impossible to reason with at times (particularly when they assumed, despite all evidence to the contrary, that they _were_ in the right).

**Listened**  
Having someone around who would not only listen, but take his advice to heart, left him with the reassurance that he was, at least, doing _something_ right.

**Cracked**  
Jazmine didn't hold up well under pressure.

**Belonged**  
The moment he realized they belonged together was the same moment that he realized she had been waiting patiently on him to figure that out for ages.

**Shivered**  
It was a gesture she never forgot, and, even though she kept his scarf, she never really wore it after that day because she wanted it to smell like him for as long as possible.

**Escaped**  
It wasn't so much an "escape" as it was a "brief respite" from the sometimes-too-monotonous, sometimes-too-chaotic, atmosphere that permeated the suburb of Woodcrest - even if _she_ was the only one truly excited about the trip, and they were only going for books and coffee.

**Offended**  
"Offended"... wasn't the word he would have used to describe the look on her face, but he knew by the way she promptly turned and left the room that it wasn't far from the correct definition.

**Guarded**  
Those cold mornings spent waiting on the bus were likewise spent guarding his coffee from Jazmine's blatant attempts to steal it.

**Blushed**  
He had about as much control over Jazmine pinning him back against the coffee table as he had over the rush of heat he felt flooding his face as she did it.

**Moved**  
Huey vehemently telling her that she _was absolutely not_ _allowed _to carry _any_ boxes in, out, or otherwise, of the nursery, especially the boxes temporarily hosting the crib railings, was probably the sweetest thing he had ever said in that tired, yet authoritarian, tone.

**Teased**  
She was a little more sincere with him sometimes than she was with others, because she knew how much he really took her criticisms to heart, even if they were playfully intended.

**Impressed**  
All wide, green eyes and open mouth, fists clenched in front of her as she stared, Jazmine Dubois was, undoubtedly, impressed; she just couldn't find the focus to voice it at the moment.

**Refused**  
He refused her... probably more often than he should have; there were times, however, when it was imperative to tell her, _"No,"_ because he was most certainly _not_ going to let Riley, of all people, watch his daughter for an hour just because _she _thought they needed to spend more "quality time" alone.

**Loved**  
He was not a dancer, and he was not a shopper, and he was not all the frivolous, spontaneous things that probably would have been more suited to her upbeat mien - but she loved him, anyway.

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(A/n) I got this idea of seemingly-unrelated-but-sort-of-totally-related sentences from some Transformers and Up fanfiction I read recently, and y'know what? It was fun (writing is ALWAYS fun) and surprisingly engaging! It really does take some effort (more than you'd think, at least) to compose an entire story or scenario around one word and using just _**one sentence!**_

Try it sometime~ ;) This is the first quarter (there might be MOAR! 8D). Please review!

-Motcn


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